24G MisceUaneoia<, 



Note on Regalecus glesne, Ascanius. By James A, Grieg. 



This note relates to a herring-king found on the 9th March at 

 Seimstranden, a little to the north of Bergen. It was in water about 

 2 metres deep, and was landed with some difficulty, in consequence 

 of which, and of the lapse of a week before it was brought to the 

 Museum at Bergen, it had sustained considerable injury. Since 

 1740, when the first herring-king was found on the Norwegian 

 coast, this makes the fourteenth specimen known with certainty, so 

 that on the average one of these animals has been stranded every ten 

 years. Ou the English coast these fish occur more frequently ; since 

 1759 twenty individuals have been stranded, or about one in every 

 six or seven years. 



The measurements of the Regalecus found at Seimstranden aro 

 as follows : — 



ft. in. 



Total length 8 



Length of head 9 



Diameter of orbit l/o 



Distance of anal aperture from tail 2 ] 



Elevation of 

 Total depth, lateral line. 

 in. in. 



At the pectoral 10 j'^^ 5g 



Between pectoral and anal .... 1 o 4^ 



At the anal Vi\ ?<\ 



This Rcijalecna is the smallest known specimen, for it is barelv 

 8 feet long, and therefore a little smaller than the individual stranded 

 in Cornwall in 17S8 (S^- feet, Daj'). Shaw's Oi/mnetrns BiisseUii, 

 found at Vizagapatam in 1788, measured only 2 ft. 8 in. ; but it 

 is uncertain whether this is identical with the northern Regalecus 

 glesne. The Bergen Regalecus is also remarkable for its great 

 depth, 15 inches, which is about one seventh of the total length, 

 while the proportion varies in other cases between i and —, and 

 even sometimes falls to -J^ ; in the Cornish specimen the proportion 

 waSyL. 



The pectorals had 12 rays. The number of occipital rays seems 

 to have been 13. The dorsal, which was of a fine red colour in the 

 fresh animal, had 133 ra5's (125 -(-13) ; but the existence of a gap 

 behind the occipital rays leads the author to conclude that there were 

 altogether about 145 rays, probably more, as there were many rays 

 broken and removed. If Liitken's supposition, that the number of 

 dorsal rays increases with the age of the animal, be correct, as there 

 is every reason to believe, the small number of rays in this specimen 

 is very natural. Unfortunately the number of rays in the English 

 Regalecus oi 1788 is not stated ; it would have been very interesting 

 to compare the numbers in these two specimens of nearly equal 

 size. The ventrals were represented by fragments 2| and Ig in. 

 long;. 



